European Business

Recently the Financial Times (September 11, 2006) published a ranking of the "Top 35 European Masters in Management (MIM) programs." I would note for my American readers that this article highlighted the fact that the MIM degree is "preferred to the MBA in the European business community."

Overall 14 countries in Europe account for these "Top 35" programs and furthermore only 4 countries account for 23 of the 35 programs (66%) -- this is an interesting concentration of academic excellence since the current European Union has 25 nations as members. The country-by-country tally is as follows:

1. France -- 11 programs
2. United Kingdom - 7
3. Belgium - 3
4. Netherlands - 2

France??

Yes France is clearly viewed as the leader in business education programs since 11 of the Top 35 MIM programs are located there. Given the global perception that France is an over regulated economy dominated by labor strikes and on the verge of collapse one would think that with all of the great business managers apparently produced by these French universities the economic stagnation could be eliminated or is their economy more dynamic than we know?

This forces a number of related questions -- what constitutes quality in a business degree program, is France's economy on the brink of collapse or an ideal example of socialized capitalism, and perhaps more importantly where do the graduates of these MIM programs go upon graduation?

No where did this Financial Times article discuss this very high concentration of high quality business education programs in France - juxtaposed against the ongoing perception that economic reform is neeed -- but clearly this high concentration justifies a separate, follow up article exploring this situation for interested readers.

Bon weekend,

Todd